Carpe Diem… Patiently

Having a long-term perspective for a number of goals (my novel, children, guitar) has resulted in an interesting…dichotomy (if that’s the right word) for me.

As believers we are called to make the most of every opportunity.

I think what can happen as a result of this “only now matters” perspective (which is correct in its own way), is that we can lose our eternal perspective, and even forget it is not our efforts that accomplishes significant things.

I’ve quoted this before, but it fits here too:

“God does not have to depend on human exhaustion to get His work done. God is not so desperate for resources to accomplish His purposes that we have to abandon the raising of our children in order to accommodate Him. God is not so despairing of where to turn next that He has to ask us to go without sleep for five nights in a row. Chronic overloading is not a prerequisite for authentic Christianity. Quite the contrary, overloading is often what we do when we forget who God is.”

“Someone has said, ‘God can do in twenty minutes what it takes us twenty years to do.’ Let’s trust more and do less. Is it busyness that moves mountains…or faith?”.

What I’ve found myself dwelling on more is gratitude at the amount of time we’ve been given.

~ ~ ~

Yes, yes, I know its not guaranteed, or even truly mine, but when time stops for me, I’ll be in eternity so the shortness of what time I had here won’t matter to me.

By being obedient I don’t need to worry about when this will all end. (Look at One Year to Live).

~ ~ ~

What I think of is how many years I have ahead of me to (for example) progress in guitar. When I hit my Silver Anniversary with Jay, I’ll have more than 20-years’ experience in guitar-playing.

Think how many exercises I struggle with now that will be second nature by then!

~

I am challenged now by what and how I will teach my children, but in 10 years they will all be solidly entrenched, and we’ll be doing it.

When I am temped to fear, I remind myself I have nearly two more years to prepare, and many faithful who have gone on before me.

This is a quintessentially doable task.

~

Things that I wish I’d started 20-years ago, as a child, if I actually do start them, will eventually have 20-years of experience behind them.

You can get good at something 20 years.

This is what I think of when I think of having lots of time.

~

I remind myself that goals are to be worked for, and not having abilities instantly is okay, because there is always time.

For those who want to argue my time may be cut short, I’ll simply point out that seeing Jesus face-to-face will more than make up for my not being fluent in Spanish.

Until I am gone I hope to enjoy the world and the wit our Creator gave me, and since my interests, inclinations and abilities can pull at me frantically, this reminder of time is a peaceful way for my patient Heavenly Father to slow me down and help me enjoy where I am now, even as I pursue the next goal.

5-9-07 ETA:
This is my WFMW this week. This idea of allowing myself time to reach my goals is a blessing I wish for other moms “stuck” in the less-productive “nows.”

Try to remember that not everything really needs to be done *Today!* and I think you will find things growing more peaceful.

“We have tomorrow,” and “Morning is wiser than the evening” are both good mantras for those many days when we reach the end of the day before the end of the list.

5 thoughts on “Carpe Diem… Patiently

  1. Yes, a great encouragement and great post.
    I particularly love the quote.
    I want to learn to knit and sew. Surely I can get good in 20 years, right? :)

  2. Pingback: Untangling Tales » Blog Archive » My Someday List

  3. The other day I was thinking about time! I was counting seconds because I didn’t have a watch or clock and needed to be somewhere at a certain time. I snapped my fingers at the rhythm of a clock. Just a few seconds seemed like an eternity because I had nothing to do but wait for something — and rhythmically count. Then I thought about how long things take me; most tasks take about 15 minutes. I kept thinking about how LONG things took and how it was a wonder I got anything done when I realized that the whole “15 minutes” is too long thing was a concept of modernity. A couple hundred years ago, tasks took much more than 15 minutes and people got more done.

    “Got more done?” you ask. Yes, at least that’s what I think. Men had time to walk or ride to town. Women at home had time to churn butter and wash clothes by hand. They had time to have an afternoon walk, garden and embroider. Students had time to write papers by hand. People had time to write a letter everyday. I think about what people DID back then and wonder, “How in the world did they have time to do all that and when it took so long to do them?”

    The day can be long if you have no distractions. :)

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